Breast cancer
Most women are well aware of their risks of breast cancer: About 1 in 8 U.S. women (12 percent) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime, according to breastcancer.org. But men get breast cancer to, and they typically receive a much worse diagnosis than women. “Any woman living in the U.S. has been told a thousand times that she needs to have breast examinations and mammograms,” says Lee Loewinger, MD, a cardiologist at Brooklyn Cardiovascular Care, PLLC, in New York.
“However, there is very little education for males about this cancer, so men tend to be less proactive about getting a breast lump examined.” When it is diagnosed in men, the cancer is much more likely to be more advanced, more dangerous, and more difficult to treat. Adding to these issues, Dr. Loewinger points out that males have less breast tissue than females, and male breast cancer is more frequently found under or near the nipple, which makes it easier to miss on exam.
